Smiling Valley School, South Africa, Update - April 2018

A short update on our 2 day visit to Smiling Valley. As you can see from these photographs all the pupils continue to be happy at the school.

There are now 427 pupils at the school, parents want to send their children to this school from far and wide, and they have to turn pupils away. There were less than 100 when we ﬁrst started visiting.

The outside of the buildings looks nice and white, as they were painted a couple of years ago , but the inside is dark, with plaster falling oﬀ, old ﬂooring and needs painting. The school are still waiting for this to be done . They also need extra buildings to cope with the increase in pupil numbers , and need 3 more staﬀ .

This time we had Sharon and Ray with us, from Ashton, with Haydock, Rotary Club .

They had raised a lot of money for the school, and this was used to buy some essential resources plus a data projector and 2 grass cutters.

Ray and Sharon, and myself, spent an evening with King Williamstown Rotary Club. There we were given the opportunity to tell them about Smiling Valley Intermediate School, and the partnership we have with them

The gifts from suppliers and friends in England, plus money raised by Rob Williams and the pupils of Byrchall High School, ensured that all the younger pupils had a special pencil to help them to learn how to write.

The intermediate phase received pens and pencils and the older pupils received a pen, pencil, ruler and rubber.

As always, we left them with a little chocolate treat as well.

This year we had a focus on working in the Reception class, and with the younger pupils.

We used the money raised by St. John’s CE Primary school to buy some wooden units to create a ‘home’ corner.

Then we used the money raised by Rhian, at Hindley J&I school, to buy some equipment to use for play in that corner. We have also ordered a sink to be delivered next week, from money raised at Byrchall.

The pupils are not used to playing in class, they are used to sitting quietly and just listening; so Bethany had to work with the pupils on how to play.

As you can see from the photographs, the pupils loved it.

Bethany also worked with the teacher to set up learning areas in the classroom to allow the pupils to work/ play independently, and allow the teacher to work intensely with small groups.

There was the kitchen area, an area for doing pretend housework and gardening, an art area, a numeracy corner and a literacy corner.

We tried to create a more stimulating environment, by using posters on the wall, and pictures to develop literacy and story telling.

With some of the money from Byrchall High we also bought some sports and play equipment for the younger pupils, and some educational games.

Mongezi and his family, and all the staﬀ at Smiling Valley send their best wishes to you all in England. They thank you for your continued support and the expanding partnership. They would love to see you all in South Africa.

Mongezi is convinced that the partnership Smiling Valley has with schools, churches, friends and other organisations has helped the school to provide the best education in the area. The pupils are happy, and are given a lot more opportunities than just studying.